Jazz Pharma Buys FAAH Inhibitor Program Of SpringWorks Therapeutics - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (JAZZ) and SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc. (SWTX) said Monday that Jazz Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited and SpringWorks have entered into an asset purchase and exclusive license agreement.

Under the terms of the deal, SpringWorks has assigned and exclusively licensed all assets relating to its fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH inhibitor program to Jazz. This includes SpringWorks' proprietary FAAH inhibitor PF-04457845 and its license agreement with Pfizer Inc. (PFE), under which Pfizer licensed PF-04457845 to SpringWorks in 2017.

In addition to assuming all milestone and royalty obligations owed by SpringWorks to Pfizer, Jazz will also make an upfront payment of $35 million to SpringWorks, with potential milestone payments of up to $375 million to SpringWorks upon achieving certain clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones.

SpringWorks will also receive incremental tiered royalties on future net sales of PF-04457845 in the mid- to high-single digit percentages.

Jazz Pharma said it will initially focus on developing PF-04457845 for the potential treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD and associated symptoms.

"This acquisition reinforces our unwavering commitment to developing and commercializing innovative medicines in areas of high unmet need, and, given there has been no new medication approved to treat PTSD for nearly two decades, we believe there is a significant patient need," said Robert Iannone, Executive Vice President, Research and Development of Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

PF-04457845 focuses on treating PTSD with a novel mechanism of action that has the potential to address multiple core symptoms of the disease, including fear extinction, anxiety and disrupted sleep architecture.

The companies noted that clinical experience to date includes over 100 healthy volunteers and about 80 patients. PF-04457845 has demonstrated promising activity when studied in populations of relevance to PTSD, including fear extinction in healthy volunteers and anxiety symptoms in cannabis use disorder.